Micromotors before and after reacting with stomach acid (via BBC and UCSD)
Nanobot technology has been on the rise. From autonomous construction to underwater ballet, nanobots are becoming the iconic technology of the future, and of the now. Some researchers, however, are going even further than self-repairing nanobot prototypes. The Department of Nanoengineering at the University of California, San Diego, just created a self-destructing nanobots and successfully tested it on live mice for the first time.
There has been intensive research conducted to observe the possibility of using nanobots as tiny mobile machines, including mobile self-constructing bots and those that deliver medicine on demand. UCSD researchers, however, wondered if the micromotor technology could be used inside of the body. Prior to January, this had never been done. The researchers figured if they could successfully design a nanobot that could locate damaged tissue in vivo, or inside of the body, their micro creations could replace therapeutic drugs or even invasive surgery. Talk about the future!
The UCSD researchers constructed a micromotor based on existing zinc-powered, in vitro nanobots (those residing outside of the body). The team determined if they could create a micromotor fueled by stomach-acid, it could eventually find its way into the lining of the stomach, and they were right. In a clinical trial, the novel micromotor zoomed through the stomach, eventually nestled in its lining and self-destructed. But don’t worry; it’s not what you think. While we could definitely see this nanotechnology being further developed for military use, UCSD’s version only delivers medicine. In this case, when the bot self-destructs it releases a therapeutic payload that could mean the difference between treating a peptic ulcer with a micromotor pill and invasive surgery – you decide.
The micromotors are only 20 micrometers long (roughly the width of a human hair), but they can withstand the harsh conditions of the stomach for extended periods of time. As they slowly dissolve within the gastric acid, they eventually leave a pure dose of medicine behind. After having dissolved, nothing toxic is left behind (so Mickey was okay after all). The UCSD team can’t take all of the credit, however. The idea for the technology was actually first publicized by physicist Richard Feynman in 1959.
Feynman issued a speech in 1959 titled, “There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” where he goes on to say that future technologies should focus not only on enhancing orally administered medicine, but also on the development of tiny robots that could eventually replace invasive surgery altogether. In an example, he states that a tiny robot could be sent to diagnose a blocked artery, and not only discover it, but treat it, too. Feynman was ahead of his time, but his ideas may have helped set a vision for the future, if only at UCSD.
Researchers from the Department of Nanotechnology believe medicine administered directly into the lining of the stomach is wildly more effective than orally administered therapeutic drugs. The team said much work is yet to be done before micromotors are widely used on human subjects, but they hope this experiment provides a bridge between nanotechnology and medicine for a multidisciplinary approach to treating disease.
C
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